This invention relates generally to automatic electronic and telephonic and Internet transactions through print media, as well as providing value that flows to a supplier such as, for example, a print medium supplier, a provider, or other facilitator, for the service of enabling such transactions.
Printed communications and advertisements supply information about possible transactions, where the term “transaction” is used herein to mean at least one interaction between parties, about which a recipient might be interested. Print media includes all forms of printed communications and may include all forms of packaging for goods and products. The term “transaction” may also include the desire of a consumer to purchase said goods and products. Possible transactions can include, but are not limited to, commercial or private transactions, legal transactions, or other transactions, to name a few examples. Printed communications and advertisements typically require that the recipient manually conduct the transaction, either by telephoning an establishment, such as, for example, a commercial establishment, by accessing the web page of the establishment, by physical transport (i.e. the USPS mail, courier service such as FEDEX or UPS, etc.) or by going to the establishment to make the transaction or purchase. Each of these activities could require a measure of organization on the part of the recipient, and thus the establishment could lose timely response or sales simply because the communication and/or advertisement becomes misplaced among the recipient's other printed mediums and papers.
Likewise, printed bills require manual reaction to pay the bill by mail or phone. Bills can also be misplaced and remain unpaid.
What is needed is a system by which transactions associated with printed material could be conducted automatically, thus relieving the recipient of the extra task of organizing printed material and reacting to it at a later time.
What is further needed is to converge the print medium and the electronic medium to facilitate the payments of bills and/or the transactions being communicated or advertised and to automate and make it easier for the recipient to conduct such transactions by automatically connecting the recipient to the mailer of the print media communicating and/or advertising such transactions or requesting payments of bills.
It is further to the advantage of the supplier of the printed material or other facilitators to enable such transactions associated with the printed material when mechanisms exist to assess compensation, for example a fee, on such enablement in order to generate value, for example a revenue stream, based on the compensation.